After learning the Yamato family head's objective—and the resolve shared by the others—Yamato Kuka immediately rejected it, her face twisted with unwillingness as she declared that she would stay behind as well.
Smack!
The sharp sound echoed through the air. In the next instant, her pretty face took a solid slap from the Yamato family head.
"How long do you plan on being this willful?! If even you die here, what do you expect everyone else to do?! And what about your mother?!"
For as long as anyone could remember, Yamato Kuka had been notoriously headstrong within the family—so much so that running away from home was practically routine for her.
Yet even in the deeply traditional Yamato household, the family head had never gone beyond harsh scolding. He had never once laid a hand on her.
"I understand now…"
Tears streamed down Yamato Kuka's face as she spoke, her eyes unfocused at first before gradually regaining clarity and resolve.
"I swear I'll protect the Yamato family… and Mother."
That single slap seemed to knock something loose inside her—washing away hesitation and replacing it with determination.
Meanwhile, the Kagami Forest family head began constructing a spell formation on the ground. The other family heads, already mentally prepared for this outcome, stepped into their prearranged positions, pouring every last drop of spiritual power from their bodies into the array.
As for the majority of the oni commanders charging toward them, they were barely held back—after tremendous effort—by the artificial human Yūto and Sorasuka Ryōsuke working together.
Sorasuka Ryōsuke made no attempt to stop the Yamato family head's plan. As someone assigned to cover the rear, he had never intended to leave this place alive to begin with.
"It's a real shame," Ryōsuke said quietly. "If only we'd lived long enough to see you and Kuka marry… You could've inherited the Yamato family, and Kuka could've taken over as head of the Sorasuka family."
The Sorasuka main line consisted only of Ryōsuke and his sister—and she had already married into the Yamato family.
Ryōsuke himself had no children. If he were to die here, the Sorasuka family would truly have no successor.
Though there were plenty of branch-family members, in Ryōsuke's eyes, none of them possessed the aptitude to become family head.
"So why make this choice?" he continued. "Who's to say the Hundred Demons Night Parade and Ibaraki-Dōji won't end up destroying each other in the end?"
After cleaving several oni soldiers in half with a single swing of the Kusanagi Sword, the artificial human Yūto spoke with a conflicted expression.
In truth, Yūto had never planned to do anything to these exorcists in the first place. His original intent had simply been to use their hands to eliminate traitors like the Hair-Eating Demon.
He understood the will of his true body better than anyone.
Yūto wanted to take control of the Tokyo District—but not through the kind of crude, overt violence favored by most yōkai.
What he sought was order—a balance where humans and yōkai could coexist.
If Tokyo were to become a place ruled solely by yōkai, with no exorcists left to counterbalance them, it would eventually turn into a breeding pen. Humans would be reduced to livestock.
Yūto's vision of maintaining order resembled, in some ways, Abe no Seimei from the Nurarihyon world a thousand years ago.
The difference was that Yūto had no interest in ruling the world. All he wanted was a safer, more stable environment for his family.
That was why, from the very beginning, he had never intended to slaughter all the exorcists gathered here.
If one looked closely, it was easy to notice something strange: although the oni army inside the innate domain shouted deafening slogans, very few actually rushed forward. Several of the major oni commanders were clearly just watching the show.
As for why the exorcists felt such intense unease—it was likely because Yūto had previously used thunderous methods to annihilate the Hair-Eating Demon and other yōkai.
From their perspective, if the Hundred Demons Night Parade could mercilessly slaughter its own kind to grow stronger, then killing humans would be even less of a concern.
Yūto wanted to make it clear that he had no intention of massacring them—but at this moment, he found himself unable to explain.
Because right now, his identity was that of the Kusanagi Sword's master, the hero who had once saved the Tokyo District. He couldn't openly reveal the true intentions of the Hundred Demons Night Parade.
After hesitating for a moment, Yūto ultimately chose to stand by and do nothing.
For an exorcist force as massive as Tokyo's, the deaths of a few family heads were insignificant. And given the overwhelming power of the Hundred Demons Night Parade, letting everyone escape completely would have been equally unreasonable.
On the other side of the battlefield, Ibaraki-Dōji, now fully encased in battle armor, showed no urgency to attack. Instead, he watched Yūto's actions with leisurely interest.
Though little rationality remained within him, he was keenly aware that Yūto's power was still increasing.
Now ruled by pure oni instinct, Ibaraki-Dōji desired nothing more than to fight a stronger opponent. As he watched Yūto absorb the negative emotions within the innate domain, he made no attempt to interfere—on the contrary, he seemed thoroughly entertained.
"The future of the Tokyo District looks bleak," the Yamato family head muttered. "If a few old men like us die here, then so be it.
But whether it's the Hundred Demons Night Parade or Ibaraki-Dōji who survives… either outcome spells disaster for Tokyo."
On the blackened earth littered with bones, a massive spell formation was finally completed under the Kagami Forest clan's direction.
The Yamato family head and three other beings whose spiritual power had reached S-rank stepped into the positions of the Four Symbols.
With their immense spiritual energy as fuel, the once-dim formation erupted with blinding light, illuminating the surrounding darkness as brightly as day.
At the same time, phantom manifestations of the Four Divine Beasts appeared behind each of the four family heads, corresponding to their respective directions.
The divine beasts exchanged silent gazes—then the Azure Dragon moved first.
Its colossal body surged forward, crashing directly into the void itself, until a faint裂裂裂裂—until a hairline crack appeared in space.
The moment that crack formed, the White Tiger followed with the momentum of a ferocious beast descending the mountain. Roaring thunderously, it lunged at the fissure, its razor-sharp metal-aspected claws slashing down and forcibly widening the tear.
As the air grew scorching hot, a crimson figure shot skyward.
A pillar of flame capable of incinerating all things crashed down from above.
Under the scorching fire of the Vermilion Bird, the already-formed spatial rift began healing far more slowly.
Finally, the Black Tortoise, its serpentine and tortoise forms entwined, surged forward almost simultaneously. With its immense body, it assumed a posture like a pillar holding up the heavens—blocking the slowly closing rift with sheer mass.
As the Four Divine Beasts shattered the void one after another, the four family heads supplying spiritual power vomited blood almost in unison.
The reason the beast phantoms possessed such terrifying power was precisely because of the enormous spiritual energy they were providing—granting the beasts a trace of their true might. Otherwise, tearing open space so easily would have been impossible.
Despite blood spilling from their mouths, the Yamato family head and the others wore expressions of joy as they gazed at the fractured spatial wormhole.
Even if this meant eternal rest for them, sacrificing themselves to save more of their clansmen was, in their eyes, more than worth it.
Yet compared to their excitement, the Kagami Forest family head—the one who had constructed the formation—looked anything but pleased.
Instead, his face was filled with shock.
As the caster, he realized with horror that the spatial rift they had torn open did not lead back to their original world—but somewhere else entirely.
There was absolutely nothing wrong with the spell formula he had drawn.
Which meant only one thing.
Someone had interfered with his formation using overwhelming power, causing them to tear open the barrier to a different space.
The Hundred Demons Night Parade?
No—impossible. They had no reason to care about insignificant prey like this right now.
Then who else could alter his spellwork?
And just what world lay beyond the rift they had opened?
Seeing the rift appear, many people understood that this represented their one and only chance at survival. They surged forward desperately, trampling over one another to reach it.
"Wait—something's wrong—!"
The Kagami Forest family head had only just begun to shout when—
A flash of white light swept past.
Several people who were about to enter the rift were cut cleanly in half at the waist, their bodies falling lifelessly to the ground.
They were unmistakably dead.
Witnessing this, the Yamato family head and the others turned furious, bewildered gazes toward the Kagami Forest family head.
This was nothing like what he had promised.
They had offered their spiritual power to give their people a chance to live—not to die even faster.
"I don't know what happened either," the Kagami Forest family head said in shock. "Someone altered the spatial coordinates. The barrier we tore open leads to an unknown location."
Before anyone could react further, a figure slowly emerged from the depths of the rift.
His entire body radiated darkness, and resting casually on his shoulder was a massive scythe.
He looked at the Yamato family head and the others—and calmly answered their unspoken questions.
"That's right. We were the ones who tampered with your formation. By borrowing your power and exerting force from both sides, we were finally able to tear open the barrier between the two worlds.
"As for what lies beyond the rift… there's no harm in telling you. It's the realm where the gods reside."
The man—shouldering a scythe, long black hair flowing freely, his clothes and even his pupils pitch-black—swept his gaze across the group as he spoke.
"The barrier between the Divine Realm and the Human Realm has always been an insurmountable boundary due to certain rules. Even if the gods wish to descend, they can only project a fragment of their power through shikigami and similar means.
"But just now, the gods sensed something unusual. The barrier between the Divine Realm and a certain space had become exceptionally thin.
"So we secretly altered your spatial nodes. Only by gathering the power of many gods were we finally able to tear open the boundary between the two realms."
His explanation left everyone present stunned.
After a moment, the Yamato family head frowned and asked in confusion, "If the other side of the rift is truly the realm of the gods… then that would mean you yourself are a god as well.
"Then tell me—why did you strike them down so mercilessly just now?"
He stared at the bodies on the ground, cut cleanly in half, and voiced the doubt burning in his heart.
Humans had worshipped the gods since ancient times. And in exchange, weren't gods supposed to protect humanity?
Yet the man before them—who claimed to be a god—had slaughtered those humans without the slightest hesitation.